Court Sets Date for Final Arguments in Sanaa Ripper Case

A Yemeni court on Sunday set October 29 as the date for final arguments in the case of the "Sanaa Ripper", a Sudanese morgue attendant accused of butc

A Yemeni court on Sunday set October 29 as the date for final arguments in the case of the "Sanaa Ripper", a Sudanese morgue attendant accused of butchering at least two young women.

Judge Yahiya al-Aslami said the court now had confirmation, based on a German forensic report, that Yemeni student Hosn Ahmad Attiya was killed in February 2000 and Zeinab Saud Aziz, an Iraqi student, on December 13, 1999.

On October 15, the court ordered the release of the bodies of the two women found butchered at Sanaa University's morgue.

The parents of Iraqi student Zeinab Aziz, who battled to bring the case to court and have alleged a widespread conspiracy among senior university figures, reclaimed their daughter's remains for burial in Baghdad.

The German forensic experts, charged with determining the exact number of victims from body parts found at the university morgue, had by the end of August identified 18 corpses.

They said claims by the university medical faculty that there were only 15 bodies in the morgue for teaching purposes were not true.

Mohammad Adam initially confessed to the rape and murder of 16 young women, including eight university students, but retracted most of his confession June 3 after one of the alleged victims showed up in the Sanaa courtroom.

Adam, who has been on trial since May 27, now says he killed only the two students whose bodies have been released – SANAA (AFP)